Le Comptoir and Cassia

At Cassia (photo by Chigusa)

Two really wonderful restaurants, represented by really talented local chefs.

I've been a big fan of Chef Gary Menes since he was a chef/ partner at Palate restaurant (it was closed some years ago) in Glendale. He was trained in fine French dining and have been cooking sophisticated California cuisine. His own restaurant, Le Comptoir, is located at The Historic Hotel Normandie in Koreatown. It's a very small restaurant with only 10 counter seats in front of the kitchen.

Gary's dishes are true farm-to-table. He serves vegetarian 6-course tasting menu with options of non-vegetarian dishes. The ingredients are at the top quality which the chef carefully selects.


Amuse: kale chips with dipping (I think it was ricotta?)
First Course: Sweet potato velute, Greek yogurt, fried bread crumbs (forgot to take a picture)
Second Course: Not your typical "vegetable and fruit plate"
Third Course: Organic egg "en cocotte", lettuce from the garden, region, brown butter, chives, sourdough bread
Fourth Course: Eggplant, tomato fondue, purple basil, Sicillian olive oil
Fifth Course: "Three sisters" corn, Hokkaido squash, spring onion, beans, jus d'onion
Sisth Course: Butterscotch pots de creme, blackberry compote from the garden, graham cracker, creme chantilly

The dinner was both educational because Gary taught us about ingredients etc., and satisfying. Each dish made me appreciate the every ingredient and all the natural flavors. Gary is such a talented chef! My friend and I both did wine pairing and they were good, too. After dinner, my friend and I walked to LINE Hotel for a drink. Living in LA for about 15 years, it's interesting to see how Koreatown has been changing and now it's becoming hipster town.

Another new restaurant I really wanted to dine at was Cassia in Santa Monica. I had a friend visiting from NY, so two of us went there. The cuisine is modern Southeast Asian with California influences by a husband-and-wife team, Bryant and Kim. They used to own The Spice Table in Downtown LA, and I have been a big fan of them since then. The new space, Cassia, is so much bigger than The Spice Table. It has a wide open space and really beautiful.


I didn't get to take photos of all the dishes we had, but all were really wonderful. I missed Bryant's dishes since the closing of The Spice Table, so I was so happy to taste his new menu! Starting from Spicy Wontons, every dish was so wonderfully created and the flavors were great. I also loved their Vietnamese pot-au-feu, made in a Chinese clay pot. It was so good that now I want to make my rustic home version of it with my donabe!


After dinner, we had more drink in the next door, Ester, which is a brand new wine shop/ bar. The place was so lively and fun.

Fig Dinner at Maude in Beverly Hills

Since some people asked me, I am going to resume postings about LA restaurants sometimes, too.

Last month, I had dinner at Maude with a friend. This is a small restaurant by a renowned chef, Cutris Stone, and getting a reservation is very tough here ever since the place opened a couple of years ago. This is a high-end restaurant, serving "new American" cuisine by featuring a single "theme" ingredient every month.

My friend scored counter seating for us (yay!). The theme of August was fig. I was really curious and excited to try multi courses all featuring fig as a key ingredient.

After an amuse of Hummus "Spanakopita", the show has begun.



Soup: Sweet corn and coconut
Salad: Buttermilk, cucumbers, herbs
Lamb: Tomato, tarragon, feta
Chicken Liver: Black pepper, sorrel
Ocean Trout and its Roe: "Caper," zucchini
Lasagna: Gorgonzola, caramelized onion
Ham: Sweet potato, garlic
Squab: Miso, eggplant
Pecorino Faglie di Noci: Strawberry, walnut, rosemary
Goat's Yogurt: Violet, honey

Very elegant and well executed. The flavors were wonderful. We ordered different wines by the glass and the wine service was very nice, too. I enjoyed the meal so much. This is a nice place to come for an elegant dinner in an intimate setting.

Chef Tim Hollingsworth's Donabe Smoked Dish

Chef Tim Hollingsworth's Donabe Dish (from Otium's film by Life & Thyme)

Chef Tim Hollingsworth's new restaurant, Otium is opening in a few weeks in Downtown LA. This is probably the most anticipated restaurant opening of the year in LA and I'm one of so many people who have been holding breath for the day to come.

Our donabe smoker, "Ibushi Gin", is featured in a short 4-minute film about the restaurant titled as, Otium: Chapter One, and it's creating a huge buzz. The film is produced by Life & Thyme, and it is so beautifully crafted. So, please check it out! I made a small appearance in the film, too:-)

Here's an exciting article by LA Times (with the link to the film)

And, here's another article by Eater LA.

Chef Hollingsworth's talent just amazes me, and you can tell by watching the video. His donabe dish looks so extraordinary! This is a beautiful collaboration of historic Iga-yaki donabe from Iga, Japan, and innovative American chef!! And, I also would like to thank the chef for his support for the artisan products and craftsmen who make them.

I really can't wait to dine at Otium.

Happy donabe life.

Bento Box for Hollywood Bowl

Every summer, I enjoy going to Hollywood Bowl so much. It's one of the things I love the most about living in LA.

This year, we've already been to a few shows at Hollywood Bowl and have one more this month. For those who live outside of LA and don't know Hollywood Bowl, it's a outdoor concert venue and you can bring your own picnic (including alcohol) to enjoy during the show.

Last Sunday was St. Vincent and Erykah Badu! Our friends invited us to box seats, so I made bento (picnic) dinner for 4 of us.

The menu was:
Crab spring rolls with peanut black vinegar dipping sauce
Octopus and okra in basil macadamia pesto
Fried summer vegetables in Hatcho miso tomato sauce
Tori karaage (fried chicken)
Dashi-maki tamago (rolled egg omelet)
...and wakame and multi-grain onigiri (rice balls) were, of course, made in my double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"!  When the rice is cooked in Kamado-san, it tastes really delicious and the texture stays very nice even after the rice is almost cold after many hours. That's donabe magic.

Happy donabe life.

Love for Cold Noodles

Summer is over...I'm already feeling nostalgic.


Our shiso, shishito, and mini tomatoes grew well this summer.


We did a lot of BBQ.


Summer also makes me want to do a lot of deep-frying...I don't know why! I made a lot of chicken kara-age (Japanese friend chicken) and vegetable tempura. Goya (bitter melon) tempura has become one of my favorite summer tempura items.

I made a lot of summer donabe dishes, too....so I can post some photos later.


And, summer is all about cold noodles! Here's somen noodles and toppings with cold dashi broth poured over.


When people come over, I make cold somen with dipping sauce and many different toppings to choose from. This photo was taken by Antonio from Life & Thyme, when they came over for shooting here in my patio. We had "crew lunch" after the shooting:-)


With deep miso-flavored pork topping I made in my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", I made Niku-miso Udon, cold udon with vegetables and soy-marinated soft boiled egg & miso pork topping.


Hiyashi Chuka is Jason's favorite cold noodle dish, so I made it multiple times with different kinds of sauces. You can also make the smoked toppings with donabe smoker, Ibushi Gin. Check out the smoked version recipe in toiro kitchen's website.

Happy donabe life.

Steam-fry Asparagus with Preserved Lemon

This is a quick donabe dish, looks pretty, and taste delicious. I sometimes make this dish for lunch to eat the whole thing myself, too. The asparagus stems are steam-roasted in tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san" for a short time. They become nicely crisp tender. The flavor of the preserved lemon and Parmesan cheese add the nice nuance. If you don't have preserved lemon, you can substitute with some shredded lemon rind and a sprinkle of salt.

Here's the recipe.

Roasted Asparagus with Preserved Lemon
(Tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san")

Ingredients: (2-3 as part of a multi-course meal)
10 oz asparagus, hard bottom trimmed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 piece preserved lemon, minced (*each piece is 1/8 of medium-size lemon)
Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
Freshly ground black pepper

Procedure:

1. Peel about 1/3 end of each asparagus by using a peeler.
2. Place the asparagus in the skillet of "Fukkura-san" and add the olive oil. Toss the asparagus by hand so they are evenly coated with the oil, and arrange them in a single layer.
3. Cover with lid and set over medium heat. Cook for about 7 minutes or until the asparagus is crisp tender. Meanwhile, turn the asparagus 1-2 times.
4. Remove from the heat and uncover at the table. Garnish the asparagus with the preserved lemon and some Parmigiano Reggiano plus some pepper.

You can also find the recipe on toiro kitchen's website.

Happy donabe life.

Giant Octopus Rice ("Tako Meshi") in Donabe

Happy octopus...just boiled

I've been ordering wild caught whole octopus (from Spain) from Kai Gourmet, along with other fresh seafood frequently this summer. Each weighs about 3.5 - 4 pounds and is very high quality. It's already cleaned and pre-tenderized, so I just need to rinse it throughly before start cooking it.

To prepare an octopus, I do a classic Japanese way.  I think in Europe, it's typical to start with a fresh octopus in cold water, then bring to a simmer and simmer for almost one hour or longer. In a typical Japanese way, we normally boil water first, then add the octopus and simmer for a short time, about 20 minutes or so. We enjoy the bouncy texture of octopus. Only when we want to make very soft and tender braised octopus, we cook it for more than 1 hours (sometimes up to 3 hours).

So, here's how I prepare an octopus.


First, rinse the octopus, then boil water in a large pot. Once the water is boiling, you can add a large bag of hojicha tea leaves to the water. It's totally optional, but I learned from my friend and great sushi chef, Mori-san (Morihiro Onodera), that by infusing the cooking water with hojicha, this will help the octopus resulting in nicer color and also makes the flavor better. No salt is added, but just some splashes of sake. According to Mori-san, adding salt would make the octopus meat tougher, so it's not necessary. Slowly, submerge the octopus from the legs. Once half of the legs are in the water, wait for about 10 seconds and lift again, so the legs are nicely curled. Then, submerge the octopus from the legs again and this time all the way to the head.


Wait until the water is brought to a boil again, then reduced the heat to gentle simmer. Continue to simmer for 20 - 30 minutes (depending on the size of the octopus). Make sure the octopus is completely submerged in the water. Turn the octopus over once for more even cooking. After 20 minutes, by using a wooden skewer, check the doneness. If a skewer can pierce the thick part of a leg smoothly, it's ready. Turn off the heat and let it rest in the cooking water for 15 - 30 minutes, then transfer to a colander. Slice the octopus anyway you like for your cooking purposes. I like slicing a few legs for serving cold as sashimi, then the rest for other dishes. The boiled octopus can keep for a few days in a tightly-sealed container in the refrigerator.


Here are some dishes I made from the same octopus. I made classic octopus and potato salad as an appetizer. With my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", I braised the octopus legs (cut in chunks) further in simple dashi-soy-sake-miring combination with gobo (burdock root) and ginger. Then, with my tagline-style donabe, "Fukkura-san", I sliced the rest of the octopus rather thinly and made steam-fry octopus, cabbage, and enoki mushrooms in soy-butter. All came out so delicious!


Last month, on 4th of July, we hosted a BBQ dinner at home by inviting some friends. Jason and I were so busy prepping and cooking, so we didn't get to take any photos of all the dishes we prepared...


Except, for the Tako Meshi (octopus rice)! This time, to feed our large group, I cooked it in my special giant size double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san"! This Kamado-san cooks up to 10 rice cups, and it's really huge and gorgeous! It's, of course, handmade by Iga-yaki craftsmen at Nagatani-en in Iga, Japan. So, for this dish, I used an entire octopus to cook with the rice. It came out so delicious, and I was so happy that everybody enjoyed the dish so much! I will write the recipe (to cook in 3 rice-cup size Kamado-san) at the end of this post.


Dessert was made by Yuko, who is a specially talented pastry chef. She made mille-feuille. We all had such a blast!

So, here's my octopus rice recipe.

Tako Meshi (octopus rice)
(3 rice-cup size donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san)

Ingredients: (4 - 5 servings)
2 rice-cups (360 ml) short grain rice, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) dashi
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons usukuchi shoyu (light-color soy sauce; can substitute with regular soy sauce)
1 rectangular abura-age (friend tofu pouch), blanched and cut into thin slices
1 knob ginger, finely julienned (about 2 tablespoons)
6 - 7 oz (180 - 200 g) boiled octopus, cut into bite-size pieces

Procedure:

1. In Kamado-san, combine the rice with the dashi, sake, and usukuchi shoyu. Let the rice soak for 20 minutes.
2. Spread the abura-age over the rice in an even layer, followed by the ginger and octopus. Cover with both lids and set over medium-high heat. Cook for 13-15 minutes. (Or wait for a couple of minutes after the steam starts puffing from the outer lid's hole.)
3. Turn off the heat an let it rest, undisturbed, for 20 minutes.
4. Uncover and fluff the contents gently. Serve into individual bowls.

So easy and so delicious.
Happy donabe life.